Observation Date
2/27/2018
Observer Name
Ted Scroggin
Region
Uintas » Mirror Lake Highway » Bald Mountain
Location Name or Route
Bald Mt.
Weather
Sky
Broken
Wind Direction
Southeast
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
Mostly cloudy with periods of sun filtering through. Light southeast winds drifting snow onto west facing slopes.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
2"
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Dense Loose
Wind Crust
Snow Characteristics Comments
Couple inches new snow within the last day or two. The winds have created some dense drifted snow in open terrain, but nice settled powder in protected areas. Moving around on sleds is getting much easier as the snow pack gets deeper and more supportive.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Wind Loading
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
Minor wind drifting with a southeast wind direction. I think the general wind direction was south, but the winds seem to get channeled and re-directed in this area. A few fresh wind slabs would crack, but I did not get into much steeper terrain.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments
The winds have been working over the high exposed terrain and would expect there to be a few deeper wind slabs along the ridge lines and open terrain.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Same
Problem #2 Comments
The snow pack in this location looked pretty good with about 140cm depth. There are a few layers of small faceted sugary snow in the upper part of the snow pack. The early season crusts that are down near the bottom of the pack have some larger faceted snow grains around them and I did get a column of snow to propagate a crack, but it needed some good thumps from the shoulder. I did not dig around in shallow places and would think stability tests might show some different results.
Comments
It has been a little while since I have been up to the Bald Mt/ Murdock Peak area. Things are much whiter and more filled in, but some of the bigger rocky areas could use more snow.
The south side of Bald Mt. still looks a little thin.
Over on the north side of Bald Mt., the rocks on the aprons would normally be covered with an average winter.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate
